Sunday, September 24, 2006
Retraction
I had intended to post this as soon as I found out my error in my media rant. I was mistaken in my assertion that the media only focuses on race when a minority is involved. My estimation of the media in this country had improved significantly. I do, however, stand by my statements regarding the treatment of the Goth culture in the media. It is pretty rough.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Once a Goth...
The universe is again playing tricks on us mere mortals again. I heard about the 25 year old Goth with a Mohawk that shot up a school in Montreal. That is horrible, but not what I am here to talk about.
What I want to talk about is the way the media seems keen to report that this atrocity was committed by a member of the Goth community, who looked a bit weird and wore a trench coat. He had written on his website condemning all people save a select few whom he liked. He had pictures of himself on this site with guns and knives that were captioned with messages of hate. In short, he had a website that I would not touch with a ten foot pole. However, the media seems do be ripping into this website for condoning this action.
If a person commits a murder/suicide and leaves a note, does the media go after the paper manufacturers? The fact that he was writing what he wrote is not a cause of the shooting, nor should the forum in which he chose to publish his thoughts to be held responsible for an adults act. The writing and pictures were a symptom of a larger problem and I seriously doubt that the lack of a Goth blog would have prevented the tragedy. Allow me to pose an alternate scenario.
A portly 40 year old balding man walked into the school and shoots up the place. Would the media mention that he was going bald? Does your hairstyle determine weather you have violent tendencies? Is a mullet more or less violent that a Mohawk? I also notice that the man's race was not mentioned. I assume he was white as race was not mentioned. If he was of another race, that surely would have hit the news hard. "A young black\Arab\oriental man was found..." I have heard that phrase many times. Never have I heard "A young white man was found..."
Am I the only one who sees this as wrong?
What I want to talk about is the way the media seems keen to report that this atrocity was committed by a member of the Goth community, who looked a bit weird and wore a trench coat. He had written on his website condemning all people save a select few whom he liked. He had pictures of himself on this site with guns and knives that were captioned with messages of hate. In short, he had a website that I would not touch with a ten foot pole. However, the media seems do be ripping into this website for condoning this action.
If a person commits a murder/suicide and leaves a note, does the media go after the paper manufacturers? The fact that he was writing what he wrote is not a cause of the shooting, nor should the forum in which he chose to publish his thoughts to be held responsible for an adults act. The writing and pictures were a symptom of a larger problem and I seriously doubt that the lack of a Goth blog would have prevented the tragedy. Allow me to pose an alternate scenario.
A portly 40 year old balding man walked into the school and shoots up the place. Would the media mention that he was going bald? Does your hairstyle determine weather you have violent tendencies? Is a mullet more or less violent that a Mohawk? I also notice that the man's race was not mentioned. I assume he was white as race was not mentioned. If he was of another race, that surely would have hit the news hard. "A young black\Arab\oriental man was found..." I have heard that phrase many times. Never have I heard "A young white man was found..."
Am I the only one who sees this as wrong?
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